Gender & Biodiversity
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, refers to both a diversity of species and ecosystems and the genetic diversity within a species or habitat. This diversity is the basis of all human life. It ensures a stable environment, clean water, and fertile soils. Political efforts have not managed to slow down the rate of biodiversity loss to date. When analysing the causes, it is evident that many other policy sectors such as agriculture and transport policy have major implications for this cross-cutting issue. The way we live, work, consume and manage the economy all have fundamental impacts on our environment and thus, on biodiversity. A sociopolitical analysis of biodiversity therefore also requires us to examine existing gender relations.
Care economy / care work and labor economy
The gender division of labor in the market driven and care economy influences how biological resources are used and who benefits from their use. At the same time, the different roles ascribed to men and women in the family and community in terms of labor, property rights, and decision-making processes generate different knowledge and skills related to biodiversity and ecosystems. The roles and responsibilities of men and women in biodiversity management vary between and within countries and cultures. In most cases, however, there are gender differences and inequalities that tend to favor men in the economic use of biodiversity.
Public resources/infrastructures
Strong gender gaps are evident in access to and control over land, biodiversity resources, and other productive assets. The social power relations that largely determine ecosystem access, use, and management must be addressed in ecosystem services analysis to achieve ecologically sustainable and socially equitable outcomes. Especially in the Global South, rural populations living in poverty are dependent on natural resources, often meeting 90% of their needs with them.
Shaping Power at actor’s level
In the Western European context, gender differences are particularly relevant in the areas of shaping power, political influence, attitudes and use patterns. In the area of shaping power, women have fewer opportunities to exert influence. They continue to be underrepresented at the decision-making levels of policy, planning and research. Women also own less land. As a result, their potential for action and their role in biodiversity conservation and enhancement are largely ignored.
Consideration of women/gender in international agreements
In the most important international agreement in the field of biodiversity, the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), which entered into force in 1994, the important role of women in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity was mentioned in the preamble. The CBD was also the first Rio Convention to produce a Gender Action Plan, which was adopted in 2008.It identifies the integration of a gender-differentiated perspective into the CBD as a key objective, as well as strengthening women's participation. However, it did not address substantive issues related to gender dimensions with respect to biodiversity. The updated Gender Action Plan 2015 - 2020 goes a few steps further and identifies four strategic objectives, including mainstreaming a gender perspective into the implementation of the Convention and related work of Parties and the Secretariat; promoting gender equality in achieving the objectives of the Convention; and demonstrating the benefits of gender mainstreaming in measures to conserve biodiversity, sustainably use the components of biodiversity, and fairly and equitably share the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Symbolic order (cross-cutting dimension)
Studies show that women often prefer more environmentally friendly and lower-risk alternatives than men; that they are more likely to prefer organic, (bio)diversity-oriented agriculture and to reject the cultivation of genetically modified crops. Gender differences are also evident in use patterns: Women often use biological resources in a collaborative way that is not focused on direct financial benefits. Criticized in the research are the hegemonic, gender-coded nature relations and the separation of the productive and the reproductive, which is contrary to sustainable nature use, and the associated dichotomy between protection and use.
Institutionalized androcentrism/power of definition
The increasing economization of nature and biodiversity subjects genetic diversity and knowledge about it to international market logic. In the process, neither the living situation nor the needs of women are taken into account. Experiences show that even in the field of agrobiodiversity, which is very relevant in Europe, women tend to use biological resources in a more sustainable way. This is underlined by the fact that farm conversions to organic farming are often initiated by committed women (see thematic field Agriculture). From the perspective of intersectionality (see in German: Literaturreview Gender und Klima, Kap. 2.5.6 ), some researchers analyze the connection between humans and nature. Dualistic and hierarchical constructions of human-nature relations are reflected and reaffirmed in the concepts of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Body, health, self-determination, privacy (intimacy)
Biodiversity not only makes an important contribution to the conservation of ecosystems, but also provides the basis for medical products in many regions of the world. Especially in the global south, about 80% of the world's population depends on traditional medicine in the sense of home remedies to fulfill their basic health needs. By patenting plants, commercial enterprises are appropriating this knowledge and at the same time destroying traditional medicine in these regions.
Canadian Impact Assessment: Gender-Based Analysis Plus and Intersectionality in Natural Resource Policy
This study seeks to examine how the federal government of Canada is applying Gender-Based Analysis Plus to Impact Assessment of natural resource projects, and to consider whether this constitutes an adequate application of intersectional policy analysis. Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) is a policy tool that seeks to “assess how diverse groups...may experience policies, programs, and initiatives”1. It is explicitly branded as a tool for applying intersectional analysis to Canadian federal policy, and its use in impact assessment is a legislated requirement. Intersectional analysis, briefly, can be defined as a tool used to explore power dimensions and structures associated with how people are positioned, and position themselves 2 , according to categories such as gender, race, class, and ability, among others.
Through a review of secondary literature and open-ended semi-structured interviews with key informants, this project examines the use of GBA+ in federal impact assessment, ultimately concluding that although improvements have occurred, much more work remains to be done to better align GBA+ with intersectional theory and practice.
Gender in international biodiversity agreements
At the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the parties agreed that the process for developing a global framework for biodiversity after 2020 - the current strategic plan expires in 2020 - should be gender-responsive. A gender perspective should be systematically included and appropriate representation, especially of women and girls, should be ensured.
Recommendations for possible gender elements for the global framework for biodiversity after 2020 were developed at an expert workshop organized by the CBD Secretariat in cooperation with UN Women in April 2019. The report of the workshop can be found here.
The global framework is to be reorganized at the next CBD-COP 15 in China at the end of 2020.
Further information on gender in the Biodiversity Convention.